Coffee has long been one of the most popular drinks in the world. In 9th Century Arabia it was first recorded that people drank coffee. Planting of coffee first started in Yemen, in the Middle East, in the 15th Century, and it was forbidden to take coffee plants out of the country. However, plants were smuggled to India and Europe. The first coffeehouse in London opened in the 1680s, and soon they were all over the city. In 1690, the Dutch introduced coffee cultivation to their colonies in Indonesia. Coffee arrived in Latin America several decades later, when the French brought a coffee plant to the island of Martinique. When a rare plant disease devastated the coffee plantations in southeast Asia in the mid–19th Century, Brazil emerged as the world’s foremost coffee producer, which it still is today. The first espresso machine was made in France in 1822, and instant coffee was first marketed in 1909. Why is coffee drinking so popular? People believe that coffee has stimulating properties so it helps you concentrate or work. It also tastes good, and everyone has his or her favorite type of coffee: cappuccino, espresso, iced, mocha.
